Division of

The University of Pittsburgh Myositis Center

Center Mission

To provide a state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment center for all aspects of immune-mediated muscle disorders and related diseases and to lead the way in clinical and basic science research in the inflammatory myopathies

Center Goals

To develop better therapies for the treatment of myositis and its complications

To educate patients with myositis and their families

To educate health care providers regarding the diagnosis and management of myositis

Definition

The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are a group of heterogeneous autoimmune syndromes characterized primarily by muscle weakness but also associated with many other systemic symptoms. The conventional classification of IIM (or myositis) includes the following subsets:

Adult Polymyositis (PM)

Adult Dermatomyositis (DM)

Juvenile Myositis (DM being much more common than PM)

Malignancy-associated Myositis

Myositis in overlap with another connective tissue disease (CTD)

Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM)

Each of the subsets is characterized by certain unique features. As one would expect, patients with DM have characteristic skin rashes even though they may have the same pattern of muscle weakness found in patients with PM. Individuals with cancer-associated myositis often have DM more frequently than PM and a number of different malignancies can be seen with myositis. Patients with myositis and another CTD may have features of scleroderma, lupus or even combined findings of several different rheumatic diseases. IBM patients have a unique pattern of muscle weakness that is distinct from that seen in PM or DM.